Slide Mountain Wilderness Loop - 06.20-22.2014

Total Mileage: 21.6 mi
Elevation Ascent: 8,130'
Elevation Descent: 8,130'

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Trip Report:

Rick Rock and I did a loop this past weekend through the Slide Mountain Wilderness. Our original goal was to hike all 9 peaks in the Southern Catskills, the Burroughs & Bushwhack ranges, even after being warned about the spruce/fir forests between Cornell and Friday! Coming from CT and Rick Rock taking the train from NYC so we arrived at the Slide Mountain parking area around 10:00 Friday night, got our stuff together and started hiking in about a mile or so to the primitive campsite along the trail on the western side of Slide. 

Got on the trail about 08:00 saturday morning and headed directly to Slide, the trail was actually pretty easy on the entire Western side. From there made the steep climb down to the col and then up Cornell, looking for a spot along the way where we could break off and head to Friday Mtn. 

Descending from Slide Mountain

Decided to cut Wittenberg off because of time, so we doubled back and found a spot to start our bushwhack.

Our view for most of the bushwhack to Friday

Went right through the thick of it, over Dink, on our way to Friday. Took what seemed to be forever to get there, spent a few minutes trying to locate the 3500 Club canister but didn't have any luck. 

Looking at Cornell and Wittenberg from Friday.  Photo by Rick Rock

It was so thick up there that we didn't want to spend a ton of time trying to find it, so we started to move on to Balsam Cap. Made it in a little over an hour to BC, found the herd path(s) going up to the summit and found the canister pretty easily. 

View of Ashokan Reservoir from Balsam Cap

As we were deciding where/how far to move on to next, a group of 4 dayhikers came by us on their way back from Lone/Rocky. When we told them where we had come from, we were congratulated on completing some of the most difficult bushwhacking in the Catskills.  They gave us some info on where we might find some pools of water they had seen at the base of the summitWe made it down into the col between BC and Rocky and set up camp. Filtered and treated water from a tiny pool, just to get us to morning, it was still a bit yellow and a little taste to it.  Had dinner, hung our bear bags, and went to sleep as soon as all the daylight was gone.

View from the col between Friday and Balsam Cap

Got moving by 07:30 on Sunday morning and hiked right away to Rondout Creek to try and get us water for the day. Had to hike down the stream bed a ways but finally found where the water was coming out and filled up for the day's climbs. It was fun hopping down the rocks in the stream bed, not so much on the way back!

Looking back up Rondout Creek

Hiked back up the creek bed for a while and then made a turn to Rocky. We approached Rocky from the South-East, not sure if people usually climb Rocky from this direction, but we came up on some really impressive ledges. This was definitely the toughest climbing of the weekend. 

Came upon a lot of this going up and over Rocky.  Photo by Rick Rock

Lots of downed trees, boulders, and difficult ledges to climb made getting to the summit a real challenge. Found the canister, signed in, and moved right on to Lone. It's ironic, I've found the hike up to Slide Mountain to be one of the easiest while being the tallest and climbing Rocky, the shortest, to be the most difficult.  

The hike between Rocky and Lone was a bit of a challenge.  Lots of ledges and balsam forests to negotiate.  Made it to the summit of Lone in about an hour, had lunch at the ledge south of the summit. The black flies were a bit much so we only stayed as long as needed. 

View from ledge on south side of Lone.  That's Peekamoose Mountain on the right.

Started making our way to Table, once we made it to the col it was actually a pretty easy hike from there. Found good herd paths most of the way up Table, went through a couple hundred feet of thick conifers and popped out on the trail. What a great feeling after being off a trail for 24 hours! We had decided to cut off Peekamoose too because of time. All the bushwhacking and climbing took more time than we thought. Hiked all the way down Table, crossed the Neversink and took the Phoenicia-East Branch Trail back to the Slide Mountain parking area.

Great weekend hike! Had beautiful weather the entire weekend. Lots of incredible ledges and great climbing! The bushwhacking was incredibly difficult at parts, this hike was a serious challenge. Got lots of quality map and compass time in which was fun.

Panorama looking north towards Devil's Path

All of my photos from this trip can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/49411498@N07/sets/72157645335322086/with/14315729817/